I'm a 25 year old male, declared healthy, but suffering from severe health anxiety. I don't know how to get out of this hole.

Rorta · 2015-07-15T16:16:17+00:00

One day in oktober I got a strange feeling while rope skipping. I started hyperventilating like crazy, I felt bad for days afterwards.

Are you sure you're not having panic attacks?

I find meditating works really well for preventing panic attacks and anxiety. Cold showers also work wonders.

RPthrowaway123 · 2015-07-15T16:29:29+00:00

Medication is something to look into if you can't get a handle on it any other way. A doctor would probably prescribe you an SSRI.

I overcame anxiety by asking myself what the worst that could happen was - let's say you're scared of talking to some chick. What's the worst that could happen if you talk to her? She rejects you? Throws a drink in your face? Would that be the end of the world?

Meditation will help you a lot, I think. Also, consciously think positive thoughts throughout the day. "I'm such a fucking boss at this" "I'm gonna be a beast at the gym" and so on. It sounds silly but just thinking positive thoughts helps. Anytime you catch yourself freaking out about something, stop and take a deep breath then override it with a positive thought.

MeatCurtainRod · 2015-07-15T16:33:59+00:00

I have a few friends who went through this just recently. They both went through some extensive surgeries (one was breast reduction at a young age, other was colonoscopy at a young age) so they have an excuse. You don't. Especially when you were cleared by multiple specialists.

Hate to break it to you, but that feeling is simply a matter if you being unbalanced. It can be something as simple as you not drinking enough water, or drinking too much redbull. Or not eating enough nutrients. Or mistaking the slight uncomfortableness of an elevated heart rate in physical exertion (which is good btw) for something bad.

Maybe you are not getting enough sleep. Maybe you are getting depressed from an up and coming event in your life. If you suddenly stopped working out, then your body will go through changes.

If you are cleared physically, then it is a mental issue. Perhaps see a health or dietician or nutritionist, or someone like that.

secret_barber · 2015-07-15T19:17:42+00:00

I found 5mg of Xanax to be extremely helpful in taking the edge off my most extreme panic attacks.

[deleted] · 2015-07-15T19:25:23+00:00

I (20) had this after my mom had a cerebral hemorrhage. I was scared to get a heart attack 24/7, every little pain and tintling scared the shit out of me. I was scared of biking, running etc. This was before I discovered TRP btw.

I pretty much overcame this now due to a several things I did:

*Talk with other people you trust about your problem. You don't have to be ashamed that you have these kind of problems. If you don't talk, you get stuck in your own reality.

*Relativation. What helped me was realizing "Hey, when I was partying yesterday I didn't get a heart attack so why am I scared to get one when I am just chilling on my bed?".

*Eat healthy. Eating healthy reduces the risk of loads of diseases and conditions. That thought helped me a lot.

*Hyperventilating is nothing to be afraid of. It is completely harmless, so don't panic over it.

*Hyperventilating is often caused by stress or other mental issues. Get rid of those issues by talking to a good friend/relative or see a psychatrist. See point 1.

*Relax. Take every 50 minutes a 10 minute break. Don't do loads of shit 24/7, it causes stress even though you are having a great time (for example when you go clubbing every day of the week).

Hyperventilation is a vicious circle (feel heart pounding --> scared --> more pounding --> scared etc.). Take away one of those elements by realizing you are healthy and you are not going to die.

LeGrandDiableBlanc · 2015-07-15T20:26:49+00:00

I have overcome a ton of general anxiety over my life.

The first key is understanding what the problem is. Anxiety is like having a shitty car alarm that goes off randomly. The alarm’s purpose is to alert you if someone is trying to jack your car, but it’s fucked up and does so despite whatever sensors are in place not actually being tripped. Anxiety is just your emotional response to a potentially worrisome event tripping despite no valid events having occurred or looming. It’s a false positive.

My point in spending all of this time writing this out, is that your mindset should change when you start to feel anxious. You need to change your default response to the feeling. Instead of asking, “What’s wrong?” change your question to, “Are these feelings the normal response to something like stress, death of someone you know, or a looming problem, or is this just brain being a cunt?” You should be able to eventually differentiate the false positives from legitimate anxiety over some life event.

Once you can identify an anxious feeling as a false positive, you can work on managing those feelings. I found exposure therapy to be the most helpful thing (I did it myself, no therapist needed). Being aware of the fact that your anxious feelings are false positives, you have to force yourself to do the things that your anxiety was previously hindering. Start off slowly and work your way up. For example, you say you get anxious about exercising. Try exercising strenuously for a short period. Sprint for 1 minute, do a bunch of calisthenics, or whatever else you fancy. Work up to higher times spent doing the activity. You will essentially be training your body to accept that the anxious feelings needn’t get in the way of whatever you’re doing, and you do this by forcing the association. It’s kind of Pavlovian.

The anxious feelings don’t necessarily go away, but you can get used to them and learn to function in spite of their presence.

Hope this was helpful.

nigmuh · 2015-07-15T21:45:13+00:00

Meditating as others have suggested may eventually help alleviate your anxiety, but if you are open to it I would suggest researching into psychedelic mushrooms. Terrence McKenna has many great talks about this subject that can be found on youtube. Unfortunately they are illegal in many countries, but they have the ability to change one's perspective on life over the course of a few hours.

somethingofvalue · 2015-07-15T23:57:27+00:00

Go see a psychiatrist. It sounds like panic disorder and you might benefit from medications and/or therapy. No shame in getting this taken care of properly. Good luck.

Real8inchDong · 2015-07-16T12:25:11+00:00

Try smoking weed..it works for a lot of people.

redpilldude · 2015-07-17T03:07:30+00:00

Maybe go to a doctor? I'm not really sure. I've never heard of this before.

Title	I'm a 25 year old male, declared healthy, but suffering from severe health anxiety. I don't know how to get out of this hole.
Author	_smosbol_
Upvotes	2
Comments	15
Date	July 15, 2015 4:12 PM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/3de8k1/im_a_25_year_old_male_declared_healthy_but/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/im-a-25-year-old-male-declared-healthy-but.151175 https://theredarchive.com/post/151175

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